The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said that inter-agency collaborations remain the panacea in tackling the rising wave of rape and other Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the country.
Ojukwu’s statement came on the heels of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu’s report that 717 cases of rape and SGBV were recorded by the Police in the last few months, leading to 779 arrests and 57 convictions.
The Executive Secretary who stated this in Abuja when he led a joint delegation of the NHRC and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons at the commencement of the 5-days of activism against rape and SGBV across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT pointed out that the “NHRC, NAPTIP and the Nigerian Police are the key agencies of government that must work together, with other stakeholders to fight these atrocious crimes, bring the culprits to book and ensure that the perpetrators no longer have a hiding place under our jurisdiction”.
At the Police Force Headquarters, the Chief Human Rights Officer in Nigeria submitted a “Call to Action” Paper to the IGP, Mohammed Adamu, considering the complementary duties expected of the Police as the Commission discharges its protection mandate to women, children and other vulnerable groups who are mostly affected by the rising scourge of rape and SGBV.
The Inspector General of Police disclosed that the three agencies, NHRC, NAPTIP and the Nigerian Police have resolved to forge a stronger collaboration that will enable them fight the scourge of rape and SGBV effectively.
He laid much emphasis on continuous training for officers of these three government agencies to enable them handle cases of rape and SGBV professionally.
He disclosed that the Nigerian Police is working with NAPTIP to collate and supply necessary data and statistics on rape and other sexual offences for input into the National Sexual Offenders Register among other resolutions.
In his remarks during the visit to the IGP, the Director General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli said that the fight against rape and SGBV requires the inputs of other stakeholders apart from NAPTIP, NHRC and the Nigerian Police, hence he called on members of the society to see themselves as advocates against rape and SGBV.
She stated that recently, out of the seven convictions her agency recorded against rape, only one person was given a life jail adding that she is looking forward to see more life sentences coming from the court on rape and other related sexual offences.
When the combined team of NHRC and NAPTIP visited the National Assembly, the Executive Secretary called on the Legislature to review some of the laws on rape and SGBV so that it will be easier for the prosecutors to secure conviction in rape cases.
He opined that laws on rape and SGBV involve some technicalities, making it very difficult for prosecutors to get judgement in their favour.
In his response, the Senior Special Adviser to the Deputy Senate President on NGOs, Otive Igbuzor promised to table the requests of NHRC and NAPTIP concerning rape and SGBV to the National Assembly for the necessary actions.
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